The talk was by Elder Holland. He talked about the Savior's parable of the labourers that is found in Matthew 20:1-15.
Basically the parable talks about labourers who come for work during the harvesting season. It talks of those that are chosen for work in the beginning, how some are chosen throughout the day... and how even in the final hour more labourers are given the opportunity for work.
When the labourers came to get their pay at the end of the day they were all paid the same amount of money, which could seem unfair as some had laboured many hours while others only laboured for the final hour of the day.
Elder Holland spoke how the labourers who had laboured all day might have felt an injustice had occured but pointed out,
"It is important to note that no one has been treated unfairly here. The first workers agreed to the full wage of the day and received it."
He also pointed out how the ones who were chosen to labour in the morning did not have to worry all day about finding work...they knew they were going to get paid from the moment they started, so he asked us to think about the labourers who were not chosen until the last hour...they had to have been worried that whole day through, wondering how they were going to feed their families when there
was no work for them to do.
Elder Holland goes on to say,
"Brothers and sisters, there are going to be times in our lives when someone else gets an unexpected blessings or receives some special recognition...May I plead with you not to be hurt, and certainly not to feel envious when good fortune comes to another. We are not diminished when someone else is added upon. We are not in a race against each other to see who is the wealthiest or the most talented or the most beautiful or even the most blessed.
"The race we are really in is the race against sin, and surely envy is one of the most universal of those."
The next thing that he went into that meant the most to me was how it doesnt matter how late we think we are, or how late it is into the final hours that we come unto Christ. The parable teaches that no blessing will be held from those who are late! The blessings are the same for those who have laboured their whole life thru as to those who may not come until the finaly hours unto Christ.
In other words...its never too late!!! It is never too late to accept Christ into your heart and become a labourer in the Lords Vinyard. And when you become that labourer, no blessing will be denied to you because you had not laboured as many hours as you hoped or thought you should.
In Elder Hollands words,
"However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made, or talents you think you don't have, or distance from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love."
This talk just meant so much to me. I have accepted the atonement into my heart in more ways than I ever thought were possible within the past 3-4 months and I realize that I previously never understood the full meaning and healing powers of atonement, But, I still after all this healing of the past few months still felt that if I had just made different choices over the past 6 years would have everything I desire, my own family for one.
But, I have realized thru the spirit speaking to me thru this past General Conference that I am not going to be denied blessings because of my past choices...it does not work that way. I am worthy of all the blessings my Lord and Savior see's fit at this time and He will bless me according to my faithfulness NOT MY PAST.
I dont know if you can understand what this means to me...but it means everything. My perspective of myself just shifted... I love who I am and I realize I am a strong person and I now FULLY embrace everything I have learned throughout my life that has made me the amazing daughter of God that I am today.
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